Whipped Shortbread

Before I lose this recipe yet again, I'm going to post it. Whipped Shortbread are a Christmas staple and yet they are such a pain to make. Delicate and easily burnt, I find I need to make a double batch so I end up with enough.

The secret is to whip the dough until it looks white, not yellow. And don't overbake. 7 minutes in my oven seems to be enough. You don't want to see brown edges - if you do, you've overbaked them.

Whipped Shortbread
Makes 36

1c. salted butter, softened
1/2c. powdered sugar
1/2c. cornstarch
1c. flour
candied cherries, quartered

1. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on very high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add the powdered sugar and beat on high until combined.
3. Add the cornstarch and flour and beat the mixture on high for 8-10 minutes or until it has turned white.
4. Scoop teaspoon size balls onto parchment paper and top with a quartered cherry.
5. Bake for 7 minutes at 350. Let cool completely before removing from the pan.

Quinoa Coconut Cookies

If you have not tried quinoa, you really should. It reminds me of couscous but the percentage of protein in this tiny grain is astonishing. The easiest way to cook it is 2 to 1 liquid to quinoa. Cook it in water if you want to bake with it or eat it for breakast, cook it with broth if you want it as a side dish - or even coconut milk works!

Now that I have discovered quinoa, I want to use it in everything - even baking! This recipe really surprised me. I thought the cookies would be dry, or else have a pasty texture. Instead, they could easily be my favorite cookies ever. The recipe calls for 3/4c. of sugar but I reduced it to 1/2c. because I think they are a little sweet. I also use dark chocolate chips but you could use semi-sweet or sub in raisins.

Quinoa Coconut Cookies
thepioneerwoman.com

⅓ cups Butter, Softened
⅓ cups Peanut Butter
2 whole Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
¾ cups Brown Sugar
1-½ cup Whole Wheat Flour
½ cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Baking Soda
1-½ cup Cooked Quinoa, Cooled
1 cup Chocolate Chips

Beat together the butter, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla and sugar until smooth.
In another bowl, combine the flour, coconut, baking powder, and baking soda.
Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and mix until smooth.
Stir in the quinoa and chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 11 minutes or until edges are golden.

How To Use Up A Jar of Nutella

I made Nutella cupcakes last week and managed to use up half the jar, which is a big frustration for me. Half a jar of Nutella is a big temptation. After all, Nutella was not a baking ingredient in my house when I first brought it home. It was spread on toast and I absolutely loved it. So to use up the jar, I had to find a new recipe, and quick.

There is a Nutella cookie recipe on this blog already but that wasn't what I was looking for. Instead I had the idea to replace peanut butter with Nutella in a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookie recipe I have in my files. This would hopefully make a soft and chewy cookie.

Turns out the Nutella easily replaced the peanut butter in texture but not in flavor. I always thought Nutella had a very strong cocoa taste but in cookies it all but disappears. That is not to say these cookies weren't good. Quite the contrary, I had many compliments. They were sweet and chewy but more in a soft shortbread sort of way. The real flavor was a buttery white chocolate taste with a cocoa background but they were delicious.

I don't have any comments on these cookies really. I used white chocolate chips but I think semi-sweet would work just as well. I also think pecans would have been a good addition but, like I have mentioned before, Josh doesn't like nuts in cookies so I omitted them.

Try these in place of normal chocolate chip cookies or if you have a half jar of Nutella looking to be used up.
Ciao!

Nutella White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups Nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 2/3 cups flour
1 package white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets. Cream butter, sugars, Nutella, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
Add eggs one at a time.
Stir in the flour and chips.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set.

Monster Cookies for Gertrude

Do you remember those Dairy Queen commercials? The ones for the Monster Cookie blizzard? Two monsters are working in a cookie factory and the one make a really hideous cookie with green M&M's "for Gertrude". I loved the commercials but I loved the blizzard even more. The cookie dough was an oatmeal and peanutbutter batter with chunks of M&M's. Josh and I craved the stuff and I vowed to find the recipe.

After a bit of a hunt, the recipe has been perfected and my Christmas baking would not be complete without these cookies. In fact, of all the recipes I make, these cookies are requested the most of all. Just be prepared for half the batter to be eaten before the cookies are even ready for the oven. Josh eats the dough by tablespoonfuls.

I think it is the very subtle peanutbutter taste that makes the cookies. Don't expect a typical Jif Peanut Butter taste with these. They taste more like an old-fashioned oatmeal cookie with a hint of peanut butter. They make a huge batch, taste amazing and, the best part is, they stay soft for weeks - if you can get them to last that long!

I made them with Christmas M&M's over the holidays and today, to celebrate spring and the beautiful weather we are having, I made them with Easter M&M's. Nothing to add to this recipe other than the reminder not to overbake! 10 minutes is all they need.

Enjoy, enjoy. These are amazing.
Ciao!

Monster Cookies
Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients:
2/3c. butter, softened
1/3c. peanut butter
1 1/3c. brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2t. vanilla
1t. baking powder
1t. baking soda
1c. flour
2 1/2c. oatmeal
1c. white chocolate chunks or chips
1 1/2c. M&M's

Directions:
Beat butter, peanutbutter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy and light.
Stir in flour, powder and soda. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Stir in the oatmeal and white chocolate.
Carefully, with the mixer on low, or by hand, fold in the M&M's.
Make tablespoon size balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 1o minutes at 350 degrees

New Tasters, New Oatmeal Cookies

So Josh has a new job - well not new anymore but new for me to talk about on the blog - and with it comes a whole new baking audience. I have sent Almond Joy muffins (which I forgot to get a picture of but I will post about eventually) and now I have sent Oatmeal Cookies. It's so fun to have people to bake for again, because my family can only eat so much. And I certainly don't want three dozen cookies sitting around the house.

I have never made this recipe before, but I really wanted to because oatmeal cookies are some of my favorite. They seem wholesome and are more substantial. I love the nuttiness that the oats bring and the way it mixes with creamy chocolate. This recipe has been floating around my files for awhile and I really love it except for one thing - the amount of oatmeal. Three cups was far too much and made the cookies stiff and a little dry if you forgot them in the oven for even a moment - which I did. So I will definitely make them again but the oatmeal should only be two cups.

I mixed milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips and raisins for sweet chewiness. Mix and match as you like, I know some people are raisin oatmeal puritans. There is also a teaspoon of cinnamon in the dough which added amazing subtle flavor and worked extremely well with the chocolate.

This recipe made a huge batch and was a big hit. I hope you enjoy...
Ciao!

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. butter
1 c. dark brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. oatmeal
1 c. raisins (soak in boiling water for a couple of minutes & drain)
1c. chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Cream wet ingredients for two minutes until light and fluffy.
Slowly add dry ingredients and combine.
Stir in oatmeal, raisins and chips.
Scoop by tablespoon and bake for 10 minutes on a greased sheet.

Whole Wheat S'more Cookies

I mentioned in my last post that Bon Appetit has some whole grain recipes in this months issue. This is good news for me because I love to bake but I really want to start adding ingredients that are a little more wholesome and perhaps have some health benefits without tasting like cardboard.

Flour is a good way to change a baking recipe for the better. I find whole wheat flour to be nuttier and more filling, so not only does the baked good taste richer, it also only takes one serving to fill you up. The problem is in the density of whole wheat flour. After all, no one makes a chiffon cake out of whole wheat flour. It is heavy stuff! Every time I add it to cookies or muffins, I end up with a heavy product and the texture is not quite where it should be.

After looking over this cookie recipe, though, I noticed that the butter is melted before hand which definitely makes for a chewier cookie. The hope was not to have a "healthy" tasting cookie but a yummy, chewy cookie that no one would take a bite and say "these are different". That is rarely ever a good response.

The cookies have virtually no difference from any other chocolate chip cookie recipe I have made except for the 3 cups of whole wheat flour. The marshmallows and chips are still there, as is the sugar but you get the added flavor and benefit of a whole grain. So maybe this is a bit of a stretch in the grand scheme of healthy eating ... but I never said this cookie was for dieters!

I also cannot, in all honesty, say these would easily replace my beloved chocolate chip cookie recipe. The end result was almost like a bran muffin top. Cakey like a muffin but the ingredients of a cookie. Make sense? Don't get me wrong, they were delicious but just not what I was expecting at all. The marshmallows exploded a bit in the cookies, leaving gooey carmelized puddles and I used milk chocolate chips for creaminess although the regular semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips would go really well with the nutty flavor. I omitted the nuts, as usual, because Josh hates nuts in his cookies, and I don't think I would recommend using them anyway now that I know these taste more like muffins. I think the crunch would detract from the finished product.
So try them out and see what you think. Don't think healthier, think heartier.
Ciao!
Picture coming tomorrow!

Whole Wheat S'more Cookies
Bon Appetit, February 2008
Ingredients:
3c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2c. packed brown sugar
3/4t. salt
1/2t. baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2c. buttermilk
1 T. molasses
1 1/2t. vanilla
1/2c. butter, melted
1 1/2c. milk chocolate chips
1 c. mini marshmallows
3/4c. coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 35o. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.
Whisk eggs, buttermilk, molasses, and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Whisk in butter.
Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until dough is evenly moistened.
Stir in chocolate chips, marshmallows and nuts.
Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing about 3 inches apart (about 12 cookies per sheet). Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until golden brown, dry to touch, but still slightly soft, about 15 minutes.
Let cookies cool on sheets 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool (cookies will firm up).
Can be made two days ahead.

Maple Sugar Cutout Cookies

I have another submission for my Christmas baking saga. I do apologize for the lack of photos. Seems in all the busyness of the holiday I did not snap as many pics as I normally would have. It's too bad because everything looked so good and I find recipes are more appealing with photos. However, you have to trust me on this one.

Sugar cookies are a Christmas staple around my house although I think they are awfully tedious for the end results. I have decided that picking one cookie cutter and sticking with it for the whole batch is sufficient. It eliminates the ultimate problem of keeping like sizes with like to avoid burning and then no one is fighting over who got the bigger cookie. So this year I made Maple Sugar Cookies and used a 3" snowflake cutter.

This recipe is one of the most delicious sugar cookies I have ever made. I do hesitate to use the word "Maple" in the title because, while there is both maple syrup and maple flavoring in the dough, neither came through all that much. There was a definite richness to the taste and I would say it is a cross between a sugar cookie and a Gingerbread cookie. When I opened the tin a week later, I was hit with the most amazing aroma.

One of my favorite features of the dough was how easily it rolled out. Even the third and fourth rolling of the scraps were no trouble at all. The tiny cracks, what few there were, easily rolled back together. I definitely doctored the amount of maple flavoring and the cinnamon. If you aren't a big cinnamon fan, I would consider cutting the amount in half again, although I already did quite significantly.

The one batch made 4 dozen which was plenty. They stayed soft for the first week and then were more on the crisp side. I loved them dunked in coffee and they definitely kept their flavor weeks later. This recipe is worthy of a card in my recipe box and is now a Christmas staple in my house. I hope it will be in yours as well.
Ciao!

Maple Sugar Cutout Cookies
Ingredients:
2/3 cup softened butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3 T. maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp maple flavoring
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Directions:
In a large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg, maple syrup and vanilla.
Blend in cinnamon, flour, baking powder and salt until well mixed.
Divide dough in half and chill for 1/2 hour.
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease two large cookie sheets.
On a lightly floured surface, working with half the dough at a time, roll 1/8-inch thick. (Have some flour on hand to dip cookie cutter into.)
Dip cutter into flour and cut dough into shapes.
Using a metal spatula, place cookies 1/2-inch apart on cookie sheets.
Reroll trimmings and continue to roll into shapes.
Bake 8 minutes or until very lightly browned.
Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.

Cranberry Pecan Drop Cookies

I am always very excited to try new recipes at Christmas. In fact, very few items on my baked goods plates are tried and true favorites. I think it would be much smarter for me to make the same dozen items every year, but it is always so satisfying to try something new and have people love it.

Such is with this recipe. This was the perfect addition to my repertoire as I tend to make everything very sweet and full of chocolate. This cookie is the opposite entirely. It is not sweet really at all and the tart cranberries and chopped pecans were such a fantastic combination with the bourbon.

I ended up making a mistake somewhere along the way and had to reconfigure how the cookies were formed, yet I think they turned out better than the original would have. I think they were supposed to be more shortbread or sable - like. The dough was to be chilled and rolled into a log, then sliced. Well my dough was sticky and soft and perfect for a drop cookie. I was impatient as always and just scooped it into tablespoon balls. They baked puffy and cakelike. The best part of this cookie is they were still soft three weeks after baking, which is quite unusual.

A few tips for this one. Chop the pecans really finely. I used a mini chop until they were tiny pieces. You want crunch not actual discernible pecan chunks. Also, I soaked the dried cranberries (and this recipe would be equally good with raisins) in the rum (you could also use bourbon or brandy) for about an hour which plumped them up considerably. If you don't want to use alcohol, I think applejuice or cider would work equally as well.

The flavors were much deeper a few days later when they had time to sit in an airtight container. This is definitely a winter cookie that would be good to make long after Christmas is over.
Ciao!

Cranberry Pecan Drop Cookies
Makes 36
Ingredients
1/2 C sugar
1-1/4 C flour
1/2 stick (1/4 C) butter
2 eggs
3/4c. pecan pieces
1c. dried cranberries or raisins
1/4 C rum or bourbon
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
confectioners sugar
Directions:
Soak the dried fruit in the liquer for about one hour. Drain the liquid from the fruit and set aside.
Sift the flour and mix with the nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder.
Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next one.
Alternately add the liquer and the flour mixture. Fold in the dried fruit.
Chill the batter for 30 minutes and then scoop tablespoon size balls onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake 8 minutes in a preheated 350º oven. Cool and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

Do You Daydream In Cookies?

Sometimes you buy something just for the sake of buying it, or because it is a new product you have never seen before. Both of these reasons would apply to the ridiculous - although cheap - purchase I made in Target a few weeks ago. Now bear in mind that we do not have a Target in Alberta. This is a glorious store that trumps Wal-Mart in every way. So you can't blame me for being dazzled by the lights and sheer amount of amazing products.

It was in the Halloween candy aisle, while looking for mini Almond Joys, that I came across Hershey Kisses Candy Corn edition. You can read more about them at Candyblog although I think they give the kisses an unfair review.

True, the candy is not chocolate in any sense. And true, doesn't taste like chocolate but then again, I didn't really expect it to. What you do get is a creamy confection that is a cross between real candy corn and butter flavored wax. Now before you say "yuck" I would suggest a taste. They are extremely addictive. I had to put the bag away before my "taste for research purposes only" went any further and I did not have enough left for cookies.

And I did want them for cookies. I envisioned yummy candy kisses cookies in butterscotch flavor perhaps? Well, apparently there are very few original Kiss Cookie recipes on the net. Almost every one I found was peanut butter and very little variation from the theme. So after hunting for days and days for the perfect recipe, I finally, and quite by accident, stumbled upon this one on the Martha Stewart website. She used mini peanut butter cups in the middle, which I think would be far more delicious than my freaky Kisses. What I loved about her recipe was it was simple, and promised a softer cookie. I did not like the idea of a hard as a rock peanutbutter cookie with a soft Kiss centre.

Well, the cookies were amazing. So amazing in fact that Josh thought about them all day at work. Justin devoured them, and Johnson ate entire cookies in one bite. They are heaven. Soft and chewy, peanutbuttery and smooth. The candy corn centre was rich and a perfect balance with the cookies.

Because we do not get the candy corn kisses in Canada, I will use the Caramel Chocolate Swirl Kisses instead. These cookies will definitely have repeat peformances in my house.
Ciao!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
Martha Stewart, Makes 3 Dozen
Ingredients:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar, for rolling dough
36 chocolate kisses or mini peanut butter cups, chilled and unwrapped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Using an electric mixer, cream peanut butter and butter in a mixing bowl until smooth.
Add brown sugar; beat until combined, scraping down bowl as needed.
Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until incorporated.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer on low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture in two batches.
Scoop off dough by the tablespoon; roll into balls. Place granulated sugar on a plate; roll balls in sugar, coating completely. Place 2 inches apart on a nonstick insulated baking sheet.
Bake until cookies begin to puff up slightly, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
Press one peanut butter cup in center of each cookie. Return to oven; continue baking until cookies are golden brown and chocolate has begun to melt, about 3 minutes more. Let cool at least 10 minutes on baking sheet before transferring cookies to rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - by Josh!

Another busy weekend. Amanda had her bachelorette at a dueling piano's bar. If you haven't tried a place like that, you really should. We stayed out late and A was officially inducted into the "married ladies" club. Funny how bachelorettes always remind me of Barbara Streisand singing "I'm Sadie, Sadie, married lady, that's me!". Of course the rest of the weekend was spent with R & J or sleeping after all the partying. Suffice it to say, I did not bake.
Josh, however, was home all of Sunday. I have come to the conclusion that giving him a day to himself once a month is beneficial not only to our relationship but to the general state of our apartment. He cleaned the entire thing, from top to bottom. Everything was put away, including 3 dishwasher loads. Yes, our kitchen was that bad and no, I am not embarrassed about it. Weeks are busy, ok? And I hate cleaning dishes at the best of times, let alone when I get home at midnight.
The best part of all was his baking. Josh rarely ever bakes. He is the cook extraordinaire in our home and the baking only comes out when a massive craving hits him. Last time it was cinnamon buns, last night it was cookies. I keep a file on my computer of all the recipes I come across in my travels and want to try. This Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe can be found on Allrecipes somewhere and it shouldn't be too hard to find because it is getting rave reviews. I have to say this is now the new CC cookie recipe in our house. They are amazing. Chewy and moist and full of chips. Josh isn't the biggest CC cookie fan and he devoured these. He tweaked the recipe a bit, mainly in baking temperature and the size of the cookies. Bottom line, you have to make these. They are just too good.
Hopefully I will be the next one tempting your taste buds. We did a massive grocery shop on the weekend to build up my baking staples stock.
Ciao!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.

Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.

Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.

Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 12 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Peanut Cookies

Nothing is better than warm cookies and milk, seriously nothing. I am a big fan of chocolate chip cookies in all their forms but I get bored of the same old same old Tollhouse recipe. So while going through my November back issues of Martha Stewart ('cause it is never too early to plan for Thanksgiving!) I came across this variation on the theme.

Martha has given me so many wonderful cookie recipes over the years and I think my favorite is still the Torie's Chocolate Chip that I have blogged about previously. In this case, she combines the classic flavors of peanut butter and chocolate and adds the seductive twist of cinnamon. Ever had a Cinnamon Kitkat? Pure genious. There is nothing like spice with chocolate.
I kept these cookies small so that I would have alot to give away and so that they would be two-biters for while we played cards with R & J this weekend. I highly recommend making them bigger just because I think they look nicer, but if you want to set them along side a bowl of vanilla icecream, or just devour them as little muncheables, then tiny is perfect.

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Peanut Cookies a la' Martha
Makes about 5 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
Put butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes.
Add sugars; mix 2 minutes. Mix in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips, peanuts, and vanilla with a mixing spoon until well distributed. Refrigerate dough until it is slightly firm, 15 minutes.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Space balls 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly.
Bake until just golden, about 13 minutes.

The Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie

I have finally cracked the baking dry spell.

The real beginning of this drought occurred several weeks ago when Josh's office drastically reduced in size. I sort of lost my momentum and wasn't sure if the smaller, and busier, crowd would care to try my creations. Now that work is back to normal though, and the people who are in the office are as starving as ever, I think I can get back to baking with a receptive audience.

Saturday afternoon I found myself alone for the first time in months. Now that Josh is out of school we spend most time together so this was a strange phenomenon and I cannot say I enjoyed it very much. I did decide to bake to pass the time but once I opened up my fridge, the reality of its contents hit me. I had nothing, nothing to bake with. Normally I would curl up with a good book and forget the whole idea but I was at a loss for things to do that afternoon so somewhere in my vast collection of untried recipes I had to find one that fit the sparse cupboard parameters.

Enter oatmeal cookies. I think these are perhaps the most versatile and comforting of all cookies. Very few people do not like oatmeal and, so long as I don't add raisins, they are always well received.

This recipe was really good. I substituted a chopped up Cadbury White Chocolate Dream Bar for the white chips. I would definitely grease the cookie sheet regardless of the 1 cup of butter in the recipe though because my cookies stuck just enough to be annoying. The flavor and the chewiness were fantastic and Josh was quite upset when they ended up living at A & J's house instead of the leftovers coming home with us.

White Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Chippers
(Adapted from Canadian Living)
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
8 tablespoons shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 cup toffee bits
Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, coconut, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, making sure to scrape down the bowl. Beat in vanilla.
Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in the white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans and toffee bits.
Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, drop the dough onto parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake until the bottoms are golden, about 10-12 minutes. Remove and let sit on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 48 cookies.

Moving Day Snickerdoodles

As I mentioned, it was the big moving weekend and my baby sister has a beautiful new home of her own. I would like to say that I helped put together the copious amounts of Ikea furniture but I hate Allan keys and all the teenie tiny fiddly bolts and screws that come along with their products, so I did what I do best in these "crisis" situations, I bake.
I wouldn't call it a crisis exactly but it was hectic in its own way. A goofy dog slipping across the wood floors, a baby toddling along in all her cuteness, two boys, and a whole lot of adults. I think we accomplished quite a bit and I, for one, built two bar stools using the stupidest wrench ever created. So that is a victory in itself.

As for the baking, I continued on my quest for the perfect Snickerdoodle. As an aside, I seem to go on quite a few "perfect" quests. I have it in my mind that there is this giant recipe box of perfection itself sitting around, and I do not have all these recipes, therefore I must hunt for them until my recipe box is "Suzy Homemaker" worthy. The Snickerdoodle is one such recipe. It seems like such a simple recipe - it is pretty much just a sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar - yet it is so much more. The texture is what I cannot match. It needs to be more like a biscuit - quite dense and yet still moist. Most recipes usually end up tasting like I took my Christmas cookie recipe and rolled it in cinnamon. Not the desired effect at all. This, by far, has been the most disappointing of all my quests. I did end up with a half way decent Maple Snickerdoodle recipe at Christmas time but it wasn't amazing and I am not sure it would be considered a favorite. So this batch of cookies is one that I found on the internet after searching for the Pepperidge Farms Snickerdoodle recipe. My only suggestion is to make the cookies bigger than walnuts - probably two tablespoons of dough as opposed to one. I think that is the important aspect of a Snickerdoodle, the sheer size of them. Also, the timing is hard to get right. 325 degrees is a good temperature but I suggest pulling them out of the oven when they look puffed up as if they may burst, otherwise they are only soft for that brief warm and chewy moment and then hard ever after. Test your oven with the first batch - 12 minutes was perfect in mine.
My final piece of advice is to use the Cream of Tartar. Do not skip this ingredient. It is what gives them that sour cream taste that a normal sugar cookie just does not have.

Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping:
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Use electric mixer on medium speed to combine butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in medium bowl until smooth.
In separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
Mix dry ingredients into wet stuff using the electric mixer on medium/low speed until dough is smooth.
Mix topping ingredients together in small bowl.
Measure one heaping tablespoon (or try 2 T.) of the dough and roll it into a ball with your hands. Press half of cookie dough ball into the cinnamon/sugar.
Place ball, sugared-side-up, on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 12 minutes or until cookies just begin to turn light brown. Be careful not to bake cookies too long, or they won't be soft like the originals.

Success

After Sundays frustration with the oven, I was determined to make proper granola last night. I suppose I could have eaten the last dregs of Kashi cereal in the cupboard and not bothered to do anything at all (except watch some Frasier and sip a glass of Chardonnay), but I hate to eat the bottom of the bag of cereal. I always feel that there must be something wrong with it. Why hasn't it been eaten up by now? Is it even remotely fresh at this point? Or will I chip a tooth and be more miserable than I was after the granola disaster? In the end, more work for better cereal. And it was definitely better. I ran out of cranberries but we discovered dried pineapple at Community Health and Josh fell in love with it. So that was chopped up along with the usual fare and I stirred the brown sugar in before the oil and honey which i think made it mix better. The real solution to the burning, though, was to use a 35o degree oven and cook until barely 15 minutes had passed. It was golden and chewy and crisp at the same time and, this morning with yogurt, was absolute heaven.

My other project last night was to use up the jar of Nutella in the fridge that taunts me. What is better than Nutella licked from a spoon? I could devour that calorie laden spread if I didn't come up with some ways to use it. I had never heard of baking with Nutella which is odd because it has the texture and creamy-ness of peanut butter so it should be quite versatile. Once I started reading blogs, I realized I was not the only one with a Nutella obsession. Cheesecakes, crepes, cookies and cakes were experimented with and deamed worthy of the Nutella goodness. So I found a cookie recipe at Alpineberry that seemed simple and had at it. This cookie is similar to a peanut butter cookie in terms of crumb and texture but the addition of cocoa and chocolate chips adds an incredible richness. Josh's office loved them this morning with coffee and I think they just might be worthy of a recipe card...

Ciao!

Nutella Cookies

(makes 30 cookies)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp.

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup toasted & skinned hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.

Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Add chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.

Torie's Cherry Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

This is the oatmeal cookie recipe I used on the weekend and I have used many times before. My biggest fans of these cookies are the pastors at Northside Friends who devoured them a few Christmas's ago.
I made them for the first time with my grandma who was very upset at the price of dried cherries and then what little they did for the flavor after shelling out the cash. I use raisins or leave them out altogether, whatever you fancy.
Underbake them for sure and grease the cookie sheet or the toffee pieces will stick and burn. I have yet to make less than 4 dozen with this recipe. Martha Stewart must make huge cookies!
Enjoy!

Torie's Cherry Chocolate-Chunk Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup dried cherries
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
1 cup toffee pieces


1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking soda.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice during mixing. Add the egg; mix on high speed to combine. Add the vanilla; mix to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oats, cherries, chocolate, and toffee pieces; mix to combine after each addition.

4. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Repeat, spacing 2 inches apart.

5. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.